I wonder if anyone could give me a bit of advice. I fish up in Orkney for sea trout in the sea roll casting mackerel belly. The tackle I use is a 10 foot weight 7 rod and a weight forward 7 floater. This is the gear I use for loch fishing also. For next season though I was thinking of getting a rod and line exclusively for roll casting. Would a 11 foot rod capable of a casting a AFTM 8 line be best. Are some lines better than others for roll casting? Any advice would be much appreciated
cheers Neil

an unorthodox suggestion here in that many use 8 weights, but a light double hander would let you cover the distance or more with comparatively little effort.

Use your 10'7# with a 9#shooting head.roll cast and o/h cast without effort.But I like the thought of the d/hander.

Jim

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The Fishermans Friend is the Flirty Fly,Fickle Food for Fleeting Fish.

Of course you can also use your 10' to roll-cast double-handed.

DB

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That wouldn't happen with a Pridex

By roll casting do you mean gently pulling in and lobbing the mackeral strip 20 or 30 ft or is the strip lashed on and capable of withstanding some force?

Thanks for ideas lads,
Endrick - I usually lightly hook mackerel belly so it can't withstand too much force. I'm just wondering if a heavier rod or a specific weight of line or make of line would give me a bit more distance on a roll cast especially as weather in Orkney can be pretty rough at times
cheers Neil

Maybe im asking the blindingly obvious, but why not change to light spinning gear? as fishing with long mackerel strip aint exactly fly fishing, so why use fly rod?
regards
bert

Aenoon,
I have use spinning gear to great effect but I just find it really boring and there is a real tradition up here of using fly gear in the sea. I could just use the fly but I think the mackerel belly gives you a wee bit of an edge for the trout. Lots of the lads up here roll cast usually with the wind at their backs to make casting a bit easier and move spots according to the wind direction but there is one spot I like to fish and if the wind drops or is in the wrong direction I struggle to get any distance an just wondered if there was certain line weight or rod length that would make life a bit easier.
cheers Neil

As a general rule the heavier the fly the heavier the line. More than half my casting on my local river is roll/spey casting and a 7 line copes with flies up to a lightly weighted s8 double.

Normally I wouldn't dream of using a long rod but I can't help thinking that because you can't accelerate too quickly that the longer arc from a long soft rod may be beneficial. Maybe with one of the long light switch rods or even one of the old carbon softer loch style rods with an extension handle - some of them are up to 12ft long.

Of course it does!
point being, you cant cast long strips of mackerel belly on standard fly tackle!
Use a salt water 9'#10 fly rod with fighting butt, and you might just manage what you are asking.
stiff rod, heavy line, designed to put out large/heavy flies/lures, there you go!
regards
bert